NBC To West Coast: No Live Michael Phelps For You!

Sorry, West Coast. By the time you get
to watch Michael Phelps try for his record-breaking 8th gold
medal on Saturday, the race will have been over for several
hours.

After
considering airing the 4x100 medley relay live on both
coasts, NBC has now decided to do what it has through out these
games: delay showing the race on TV, or the Web, until primetime
on the West Coast. NBC Sports spokesman Brian Walker explains to
TVByTheNumbers:

The situation will remain the same as it has for all of our
prime-time broadcasts. The reason that we’re showing this in the
normal prime-time patterns on the West Coast is because this is
when the majority of people are available to watch.

While embargoing live sports seems absurd to certain corners of
sport fandom and the blogosphere, this makes perfect sense to
NBC. While it rankles a vocal minority, TV ratings for the games
have been
highest in West Coast markets.